Riddikulus
by CompletelyDone
Summary: Rose and Scorpius are sent to clean out the Shrieking Shack together. What happens when they uncover more than dust? One-Shot.


**Happy Halloween everyone! While I generally don't celebrate this holiday, I thought this little story would be a nice treat for those of you who do. Let me know what you think!**

* * *

"Why were we stuck with this job, anyhow?" Rose Weasley mumbled to no one in particular as she sloshed through a puddle concealed by a thick layer of grime. Groaning, she droned a quick _Scourgify_ to clean off the grey muck that sought refuge on the cuffs of her light blue trousers.

"Oh cheer up," Scorpius Malfoy's voice carried clearly to her, the murky brick walls of the hall resounding the depth of his voice for several moments. He batted thick, sticky cobwebs from the footpath ahead of them with quick and terrified motions. Rose only just stifled a laugh as he frantically shook them from his hands. "You sound like a regular Moaning Myrtle right now."

"Whose side are you on here?" She scoffed loudly, not wanting to admit that he was right.

There she was splashing around in dirty water like a hopeless, whiny child while he toiled without complaint. Sighing, she made to help her mate who was staring at a spider on the wall rather helplessly.

Her brief change in heart diminished as she stumbled into another pool and felt wetness crawl through her shoe and sock to assault her once-warm toes. "I just don't understand why my family volunteered _us_ to go clean the bloody Shack. If anyone should have been forced to do this job, it's Hugo. He needs to get off of his lazy arse sooner or later."

"I recon it was because they were tired of hearing you moan and groan about Halloween," he explained far too reasonably for Rose's liking.

She rolled her eyes upon finding that Scorpius could barely shift his gaze from the looming eight-legged creature that clung to the centuries-old brick. "For pity's sake," she mumbled. Discarding her wand once more from her left sleeve, she muttered " _Incendio_ " with a flick of her wrist.

"Bloody-" Scorpius stumbled backward as the spider took to flame. Its ashes fell promptly into a murky pool and let off small wafts of putrid steam. "Sometimes I think you're more mental than the Scamander twins." In the leaden light of his wand, Rose could just make out the dull green of the eyes that shot her a look full of amusement and uncertainty.

She knew it made her a terrible friend, but Rose loved seeing the latter from him. Though Scorpius Malfoy had been her first friend at Hogwarts, he had yet to figure Rose out completely. She loathed the day when he would be able to expose her truths and leave her with little to hide behind. But for the time being, the young Weasley was content with throwing the occasional wrench into his perception of her.

"You're the crazy-looking one right now," she beamed wickedly at him. It was certainly something to see the put-together boy she had known for so many years look like he had just come from a playdate with Grawp.

Shirt in cobwebs up to the elbows, Scorpius smiled sheepishly before contending, "Oi, don't be laughing at me. You should see your hair." Reaching towards her, he plucked a string of webbing from her messy mane.

"Very funny. I'm not used to jokes about my hair or anything," she remarked sardonically as he waved the stringy fibers in front of her. Rose dropped her gaze just over his shoulder when she felt his curious eyes linger on her for a moment too long. She hated when the blond looked at her like that. If she dared peek back at him, she knew she would be in danger of telling him anything and everything that his sleuthing glance wanted to know. Goosebumps climbed her shoulders as she became aware of their closeness. Clearing her throat loudly, Rose stepped past Scorpius while delivering a paramount performance of unfazed indifference.

"Here, let me lead," Scorpius offered as Rose started to feel along the dark wall ahead of them. Grudgingly, Rose followed, heart hammering uncomfortably and irregularly as his shoulder closely brushed hers when he slid around her.

The air was thin and- aside from the five-meter area of light that Scorpius' wand provided- darkness permeated the tunnel. A dripping noise echoed in the distance, likely from rainwater that was still saturating the ground after the previous night's storm. The air wasn't particularly bitter, but the dank atmosphere of the hall made the chill cling uncomfortably to Rose's bones.

Rose's patience was growing thinner with each step she took down the seemingly endless hallway. While no one else seemed to understand her frustration, Rose felt perfectly justified in being upset.

First, she abhorred Halloween. She was well-aware that it was considered unethical for a witch to hate a holiday that celebrated her, but Rose felt that it had become far too Muggle. Yes, she loved Christmas and Thanksgiving, but a magical holiday where blokes chose to be pirates with bad accents and birds dressed as immoral angels was a disgrace, pure and simple. Not to mention that it was irrelevant to anything of importance.

Second, she was distraught that her cousins had elected her to clean out the Shack. It wasn't as if any of them were keeping straight O's. Rose worked unendingly for that; she deserved time off, for Merlin's sake. If Scorpius hadn't offered to come with- and by extension, do all of the work- she may have cursed them all in a matter of six seconds.

Lastly, she was convinced that the second annual Weasley/Potter Halloween celebration would be useless beyond compare. It was one thing when Fred Weasley and James Potter organized parties- as their reputation _did_ rival that of the early Marauders- but it was another entirely when it was thrown together without them in a last-minute scramble.

"Rose, keep up," Scorpius had walked ahead without her noticing. She could barely see him through the murky, dank air. Damn _Lumos_ spell, Rose cursed to herself.

"Would you slow down?" her voice echoed across the stone. "I'm not really in a hurry to get there." It took her several staggers in the right direction- many of which were in ankle-deep water- for her to be able to see her best friend clearly. A smile danced across his mouth when he saw her. "What?"

"Nothing," he cleared his throat casually. "It's just that I, unlike _some_ people, am happy to be here, is all."

However grateful she was for his presence, she'd be damned if she was to be the only one stepping in puddles all night; he'd see the tragedy that was Halloween by the end of the evening if Rose had any say in the matter.

After stumbling over her own feet once again, Rose reached around Scorpius' waist to make a tight fist in the side of his pleated shirt. Scorpius went still for a moment before reaching around her shoulder to hold her in return. She breathed in deeply as he rubbed tentative circles on her upper arm. The air seemed less dense with him nearby.

Rose tried as best as she could to avoid the grimy puddles at her toes as skillfully as Scorpius did, but later decided that they weren't _so_ bad. While she wasn't particularly fond of cleaning spells or soggy shoes, Scorpius' warm shoulder was well worth the fuss of the holiday.

Scorpius stepped out of her grasp toward a too-small door that was held together by deteriorating bolts as they reached the tunnel's end. It didn't budge the first time he tried pushing it open. Nor did it open on the second or even the third try.

About to volunteer her services, Rose watched as Scorpius pushed the old, stubborn door open by throwing his entire weight onto it. "Are you alright?" she called to him when he suddenly disappeared into the darkness behind the doorframe with a crash.

"Yeah." His too-blond hair emerged from the blackness. "I may not be able to throw a Quaffle for a few days, though," he grimaced as he rolled his shoulder around.

After a few moments, he continued through the doorway, up the creaky stairs, and down a short hallway. "How do you know your way around here so well?" Rose probed.

"Al took me. Remember back in fourth year when he was having an identity crisis?"

Rose nodded. Her cousin Albus Severus Potter had decided that year that he was letting his namesakes down. Consequentially, he spent the whole month of March- and part of April- trying to understand what his father saw in Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. "I remember that. It makes sense that he would come here, I suppose," Rose recalled her mother's account of how Severus Snape died in this very building. "It seems wrong that we celebrate here, doesn't it?"

Scorpius stopped walking. "No, I don't think so. What happened here made it possible for us to celebrate." He smiled warmly down at her. It had always amused her greatly that someone who naturally looked so cold could have such a pleasant demeanor, though lately that demeanor had been reducing her to a fluttering mess.

The Great Room was easy to scour with Scorpius by her side. Though Rose was feeling a bit lazy, she couldn't help but admire the concentration that pulled at his mouth as he cast nonverbal cleaning spells. Looking away as her stomach began that newly-familiar tizzy, Rose wondered- not for the first time- when things had changed between them. He'd been distant for several months, but then again, she had been rather avoidant as well.

Upon finishing the main floor together, the pair decided to split the top level to save time. The parlor was coated in dust and cobwebs. It was so dirty, in fact, that Rose almost found it hard to believe that it had ever been occupied. Brandishing her wand at the sight, she cast a _Scourgify_ on the window. She stepped forward to the windowsill. Hogsmeade, a good kilometer away from the Shack, was alight in orange and yellow lanterns. If for nothing else, Rose decided, she was excited to see the fireworks that the small village launched in celebration.

Breaking through the peace, Rose heard a large _whoosh_ from the room next door followed by a resonant _thud_ that shook the wall. "Scorpius?" she questioned. When he didn't answer, she called once more before rushing from the parlor.

Rose had to fight to open the door; a strong gust was pushing against it.

"Scorpius," she heard a voice simper. Though unfamiliar, she knew almost instantly to whom the voice belonged.

Stumbling into the room, Rose first saw her best friend with his back against a large wardrobe on the far right wall. His jaw was set and hair being blown about by a deep purple fog that was circulating the room. More disturbing than the fog, however, was the figure standing in its eye.

Rose's scream was drowned out as the figure in the fog called out again. The figure was who she could only imagine to be Lucius Malfoy, taller and more terrifying than Scorpius had described. Clutching the doorframe and holding the door open against the blusters with her foot, Rose dug her nails into the decrepit wood and forced herself to breathe.

"You're a disappointment," Lucius boomed with a horribly menacing sneer. "Your father could never approve of you. You disgrace the entire-"

"Scorpius!" Rose's fingers were numb from holding her place in the doorway and throat already raw from crying out. In that horrifying moment, both Lucius and Scorpius' gaze shifted toward Rose. Upon seeing Scorpius' reaction to seeing Rose, Lucius' figure began to distort itself.

A few short gasps of air later, Rose watched in horror as a familiar, glowing redhead smiled maniacally at her best friend.

"So naïve," the faux-Rose chucked hysterically as the genuine Rose looked on in horror. With scarlet hair and deep blue robes that clung to every surreal curve, the fabrication was more beautiful and perturbing than Rose could ever imagine herself. "You actually believe that you can be loved. The son of a _Malfoy_." Walking toward him, she clucked her tongue.

Scorpius didn't appear to hear Rose screaming at him from the door; he remained as unmoving as a victim of _Petrificus Totalus_.

"You're nothing. A self-important nobody who is a greater disappointment than you can even fathom. I know you care for me, Scorpius. I've known all along. Did you really think a girl like me would ever want someone like you? Don't you understand? I would never stoop so low. My family hates you. _I_ hate you. I will never-"

"No!" Rose sprung to life from the doorway. Wand at the ready, she was prepared to stun the figure. But as she approached it in the corner of the room, it swallowed up the fog in several gulps and spun frantically before changing into a figure Rose had seen before.

" _Riddikulus_ ," Rose said as clearly as she could muster as she registered the familiar character approaching her. What had briefly been Headmistress McGonagall holding a failing transcript suddenly turned into her father pulling off a mask and laughing at her. Flinging her arm as quickly as she could, she used magic to throw the Boggart into a chest on the other end of the small bedroom, smoke disappearing the instant she succeeded.

Breathing heavily, Rose fell to her knees. Both arms came around her waist as she attempted to heave air in and out of her lungs to satiate the dizziness that had come upon her. What _was_ that? How could she ever become something so terrible and cruel? Though she knew it had been a strong Boggart, Rose couldn't help but wonder whether a part of Scorpius actually saw that abysmal person in her. Much less, the very thought that her best friend feared her like he feared his grandfather sent waves of nausea over her body.

Scorpius. Rose's neck protested as she jerked her head around to find him standing precisely where she left him. He didn't move when she rose from her knees, nor did he look at her when she approached him.

His green eyes were fixed to the opposing wall with such emptiness that, were it not for the slow rise and fall of his chest, Rose would have been certain he was a statue. As she moved closer, she saw a single, shining trail down his left cheek shimmer with what little daylight was left.

"Scorp," she was surprised at how small her voice sounded. When he remained unmoved, she tried again. "You're scaring me. It's just me, Rose. I'm your best friend, remember? Please-"

Her plea died on her tongue when the smallest bit of emotion came back into his eyes, face laced with something unfamiliar to Rose. "Say that again," his voice croaked before he could clear his throat.

"Say what?" her hands bunched in the bottom of her sweater so tightly that she could hardly feel them. "That you're scaring me? Well you are. You're never this quiet around me." She painfully forced her hands open and cleared her throat far too loudly in the noiseless room.

"No. That we're friends."

"Well of course we're-"

"No." Rose's breath slipped out of her and she nearly lost her balance when he turned toward her and reached up to smooth her windblown hair. Whatever ferocity he'd had seemed to be lost as his eyes darted around her face to her eyes, forehead, cheeks, and finally to her lips. "Rose," Scorpius' tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip as he continued to admire hers. "Tell me honestly. Tell me I'm just a friend to you."

The floorboards beneath them screeched as he dropped his hand away from her and dared to meet her questioning eyes. "What? I'm not- no." Rose took a step back from him. "Why are you acting this way?"

"This one thing, Rose. I swear we will never speak of this again. Please."

"I still don't-" she started before silencing herself. After taking a step away, she could now see the way that her friend's shoulders weren't quite square, and how he took infrequent, deep breaths and struggled to look her in the eye. It took a moment, but she understood. _Oh_. "Oh."

He wasn't worried about their friendship, Rose realized. He was terrified that she didn't share his feelings. Scorpius didn't just care, he _cared_. A small mewl escaped her lips. She clasped both hands over her mouth as if it would stop the rush of tears she felt come to the corners of her eyes.

"Rose-"

"I can't. I- I can't. Why didn't you say anything?" she croaked.

"Tell me I'm just a friend, Rose," Scorpius reiterated quietly and with far too much patience.

Not knowing what to say, she merely shook her head.

"Rose-"

"What part of no don't you understand?" Rose spoke up confidently and firmly, despite the wetness beginning to run down her cheeks. "Honestly, I-" She was cut off abruptly as Scorpius took her jaw in his hands and claimed her lips roughly with his own. Time stopped as he held her against him. A stray tear ran down to his fingers before Rose noticed that his hands were shaking against her cheeks.

"Merlin, Rose, I could have lived a thousand years without seeing this," a foreign voice came from the doorway moments later. Rose and Scorpius jumped apart. Hugo was casually lounging against a partially-demolished wall that appeared to be the home of several absent creatures. "But, on the bright side, I won't have to watch this buffoon hopelessly pine over you every waking second of every day."

If Scorpius noticed Rose's surprise, he didn't show it. Instead, he shot back shakily, "Maybe not. But I'll be snogging her just as often. If she'll let me." Rose merely smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Bollocks."

* * *

 **Please review and favorite! I love to hear from y'all.**

 **Enjoy your sugar-highs tonight, everyone!**

 **Blessings,**

 **CompletelyDone**


End file.
